The conventional railway freight car truck in use in North America for many decades has been the three-piece truck, comprising a pair of parallel side frames connected by a transversely mounted bolster. The bolster is supported on the side frames by spring groups consisting of a number of individual coil springs. The wheelsets of the truck are received in bearing adapters placed in leading and trailing pedestal jaws in the side frames, so that axles of the wheelsets are parallel in a transverse or lateral position relative to the two rails. The railway car is mounted on the center plate of the bolster, which allows the truck to rotate with respect to the car. The spring groups and side frame to bolster clearance stops permit the side frames to move somewhat with respect to the bolster, about the longitudinal, vertical and transverse or lateral axes.
It has long been desired to improve the performance of the three-piece truck. Resistance to lateral and longitudinal loads and truck performance can be characterized in terms of one or more of the following well-known phenomena.
“Parallelogramming” occurs when one side frame moves forward longitudinally with respect to the other, such that the leading and trailing wheel sets remain parallel to each other but they are not perpendicular to the rails, as may happen when a railway car truck encounters a curve. This action of parallelogramming side frames is also referred to as truck warp.
“Hunting” describes an oscillating sinusoidal longitudinal and lateral movement of the wheelsets that causes the railcar body to move side-to-side. This sinusoidal movement is the harmonic oscillation caused by the tapered profile of the wheelset. While the tapered profile promotes natural oscillation of the wheelset, it is also the primary feature that allows the wheelsets to develop a rolling radius difference and negotiate curves. Hunting may be dangerous when the oscillations attain a resonant frequency. Hunting is more likely to occur when there is a lack of proper alignment in the truck as manufactured, or developed over time through various operating conditions such as wear of the truck components. Hunting is also more likely to occur when the railcar is operated at higher speeds. The speed at which hunting is observed to occur is referred to as the “hunting threshold.”
Several approaches have been tried to improve the stability of the standard three-piece truck to prevent parallelogramming and hunting, while at the same time ensuring that the truck is able to develop the appropriate geometry to accommodate the different distances traveled by the wheels on the inside and outside of a turn, respectively. Additional improvement is desired, both to meet truck hunting requirements as well as to simultaneously improve stiffness, damping, and displacement characteristics that yield good high speed and curving performance.